Bible Strands
Leviticus 19:33
When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Israel through Moses within a holiness code governing communal ethics, positioning the command between instructions to honor the elderly and to love the foreign resident. The directive applies to the entire community during their settlement in the promised land.
The words — `גֵּר` (ger) denotes a sojourner or foreign resident, while `תוֹנ֖וּ` (to.Nu) literally means you will maltreat or oppress. These terms define the protected demographic and explicitly forbid hostile or exploitative treatment.
The thread — The same prohibition appears in Exodus 22:21 and Exodus 23:9, both citing Israel’s Egyptian sojourn as the basis for the command. Deuteronomy 24:14 expands the scope to include poor and needy hired laborers, whether Israelite or foreign.
Why it lands — The text requires the immediate cessation of exploitation against non-native residents living within the community. It establishes a concrete boundary against abuse that applies regardless of the resident’s origin or legal status.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.
Cross-references
- Exodus 22:21 You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Exodus 23:9 Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Deuteronomy 24:14 Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
- Jeremiah 7:6 if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,
- Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Deuteronomy 10:18 He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.
- Ezekiel 22:7 Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
- Ezekiel 22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice.